DAY NOTES

Welcome to New Zealand! You will be picked up at Queenstown Airport and transferred to your Queenstown City Hotel  by your privat booked transfer.

Queenstown is a popular tourist destination on the South Island due to its beautiful mountain location on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. The long lake stretches between steeply rising mountain ranges.

In Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world, there is much to experience and discover. Today the day is at your free disposal. Take a trip on the steamboat “TSS Earnslaw” and cross Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak Station. Here you can join a farm tour or take the gondola up to the Queenstown skyline and enjoy a fantastic view over the surrounding mountains. Alternatively, you can explore Queenstown’s wild hinterland by jeep with an experienced SUV driver. Learn about the gold-digging past as you drive over hill and dale through the impassable terrain of Skipper Canyon, New Zealand’s Grand Canyon. Also Lord of the Rings tours to the locations are offered.

Your next destination will be Mount Cook.

The area is a hiking paradise and you have the choice between different, differently long and strenuous hikes.

In the evening you have the possibility to take part in an Earth & Sky tour and admire the southern night sky and with a little luck even the Milky Way.

Visit Lake Pukaki,, which in good weather reflects the snow-capped peaks of the 3000m South Alps. From here you have an ideal vantage point to Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain at 3754m.

You keep driving along the east coast until today’s destination Christchurch.

Explore the city centre by historic tram. The tram also has a restaurant wagon for an elegant dinner. Dine stylishly in the restored historic tram, in an air-conditioned wagon. During a sightseeing tour through the heart of the reconstructed city centre you will experience a unique mixture of old and new. Alternatively, take the modern Gondola cable car up to Mount Cavendish. In four-person cabins you reach an altitude of approx. 500m and can enjoy a breathtaking 360-degree panorama over the Southern Alps, the Port Hills and Lyttelton, the port of Christchurch. A small museum in the interesting building explains the history of the Banks Peninsula and the first settlers. In the evening you can visit Willowbank Scenic Reserve and see kiwis in their natural environment on a guided tour. At the Maori Show you will be greeted with a traditional Powhiri. End the evening with an “A Taste of New Zealand Dinner”.

Your journey continues to your day’s destination Kaikoura. Here, sperm whales occur regularly, attracted by the rich food supply of the warm ocean currents. You can also see fur seals lying on the rocks along the highway, and with a little luck even dolphins will jump acrobatically out of the water.

A whale watch tour takes you out by boat under expert guidance to get closer to the whales. These occur regularly here (especially the giant sperm whales) as they use the deep waters off Kaikoura’s coast for their passage from/to Antarctica and warm ocean currents are rich sources of food. With a little luck you will be accompanied by Hector or Dusky dolphins.

Today you drive north along the east coast, passing Blenheim in the Marlborough Plain. Viticulture in this region began in the 1970s when Montana Wines was on the lookout for new land. The composition of the earth, high sunshine, long autumn and cold winter, are excellent conditions for a premium wine, especially for Sauvignon Blanc.

Enjoy long sheltered inlets, clear waters and sandy bays. Hike through the forest or kayak around the headlands to discover a fresh location each day.

Today is at your free disposal.

The water taxi picks you up from your accommodation and takes you back to Picton. Here you board the Interislander ferry and cross Cook Strait. In the late afternoon you reach Wellington, the capital of New Zealand since 1865.

At the Te Papa National Museum you will get an interesting insight into the history and culture of New Zealand. You can also take a cable car up to the botanical garden for a walk and a fantastic view over the city. Or take a trip to the Weta Workshop, Peter Jackson Workshop, where characters and props from films such as The Hobbit and Narnia were brought to life.

In the evening you can take an easy evening walk through Zealandia with a local guide. Here you will see various animals, which only become active in the evening hours. With a little luck you will also hear or see the Kiwi bird, an endangered flightless bird and at the same time the national symbol of New Zealand.

Today you drive along Kapiti coast and through the fertile farm areas from Manawatu to the north to the edge of Tongariro National Park. This is defined by three sister volcanoes Ruapehu (2797 m), Tongariro (1967 m) and Ngauruhoe (2291 m), as well as a landscape of black ash, brown dust desert and the mountain streams lined with native beeches.

Around the three mountains there are many Maori legends and legends. In 1991 the national park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, two years later also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Various scenes of the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings were shot in the Tongariro National Park. Mount Ngauruhoe can be seen as a mountain of fate in the film.  You spend the night here with a view of the volcanoes in Ohakune, at the foot of Mt. Ruhapehu.

Today, you’re driving to Rotorua.

This region is not only the centre of Maori culture, but also famous for its geothermal activity. Geysers, steaming lakes and rivers, bubbling mud holes and multicoloured hot mineral springs, known for their healing properties, can be admired here.

In the evening we recommend a visit to a Maori village with participation in a marae (traditional Maori meeting place). Here you will be greeted with a traditional challenge at the gate of the Marae and then experience Maori rituals. After the concert in the Meeting House you are invited to the “Hangi”, an earth oven meal. The food is cooked in an earth cave on glowing stones.

Today is at your free disposal.

Today your journey takes you from Rotorua further north into the City of Sails, Auckland. Auckland is built around two large harbours and is the largest city in New Zealand.

From the 328m high Sky City Tower you can enjoy incomparable views over Auckland and the surrounding area.  The audio guide explains all the sights in German as you walk around on different levels. “Touch Screen” computers provide additional information. Standing on a glass floor above Auckland, you can test your courage on the Skywalk.